The present invention relates to floatable oil fences or booms.
Thus, the present invention relates to floatable booms capable of floating on a body of water while confining material such as oil so as to prevent the spread thereof beyond the boom. Such floating booms are known in connection with oil tankers or the like. When such oil tankers are tied up to a dock and unloaded, a floating boom can be extended around the oil tanker so that in the event of oil spillage, the extent to which the oil which floats on the water around the tanker can spread beyond the tanker is limited by the floating boom.
Known floating booms suffer from serious drawbacks. For example one type of known floating boom structure takes the form of pontoons which are stationary. Such structures are difficult to remove and store when not in use, and they are difficult to handle and maneuver.
Another type of floating boom includes floats made of a foamed plastic such as foamed polymers. However such floats have been found not to have sufficient buoyancy to maintain relatively large booms afloat. Such structures also are difficult to handle and maneuver and problems are encountered with storing these types of booms.
A further type of floatable boom is in the form of a hollow tubular structure such as a hose capable of being inflated so as to be rendered floatable as a result of the air contained in such tubular structures. However, these structures are easily damaged by encounters with floating bodies such as rafts and the like. When such bodies collide with the inflated hose type of boom, the result is an easy rupture thereof with consequent sinking.